A new addition to the harbour in Puerto de la Cruz has been causing a bit of a stir of late. Last week, Puerto de la Cruz Ayuntamiento unveiled a new sculpture by Julio Neito which pays homage to the fishwives of the town.

She’s not at all like the image I had of fishwives as a boy with their ham-shank shaped arms and legendary voices which could shatter unsuspecting eardrums at 100 paces.

The detail on her features, the pulpo in the basket on her head and the fish almost escaping the basket in her hand is quite incredible; the pulpo’s suckers glisten golden in the late afternoon sun. She is delightful and she’s gone down a storm. It’s almost impossible to get a photo of her on her own as everyone and their dog (literally) has been posing beside her, including locals as well as visitors.

She’s located right on the harbour a few yards away from where the flesh and bone fishwives sell their seafood and fish. Unfortunately, that’s where the resemblance to the sculpture ends (see para 2).